Open Discussion about zRank

[ElitElegant]

Hello and welcome to all creators old and new.

This is me using the Zazzle community for the first time, and I'm trying to get a grasp on how it might be used. So I decided to try talking to all of you about something in general to see how it will go and how we might benefit from each other.

So the question is how to rank higher in Ranks as quick and easy as it should be? Personally, I'm in ZRank 4 now and it has been a while.

@raindwops @dustyshirt @moondust @MangoWaffles @SumWoman @Gifts4Women @Zury_for_women @CountryWoman @sueperwoman @AWESOMA

[CreativeLeahG]

The only way to increase zrank is for your sales to views ratio to be great. 

So first you need views

Then you need sales

Then you need as many sales for as few views as possible.

Or sales for every product you have in store.

You can try to increase zrank inside 48hrs by hiding all items that have zero views and sales to increase this ratio.

Or you can do more to attract more views and sales of those items that have none.

[SunnyDays]

Just want to bump your answer, as it is 100% correct. When zrank first made its appearance, I spent months figuring it out, at one point even having figured the exact ratios I thought were required. I eventually deleted 150,000 products. Back in the day, we'd throw all the mud at the wall. No more. In my case, while I originally hit 7 or 8, my stores have stuck at 6 for years now. Total volume of sales is lacking. But my sales/view ratio is fantastic. I have dozens of products where it's 1/1. Getting that first view these days is quite the trick! And I am not shy about deleting the hiddens and remaking them. It's the only way.

[ElitElegant]

@SunnyDays So if I have something that was there for so long and has no views, should I delete it and remake it once again? What if all my products are the same case?

[CreativeLeahG]

No, just repin and share it, OR 'hide' it temporarily to see if Zrank improves.

[ElitElegant]

Okay, I'll try to hide a lot of the old products..do you have any idea for how long should I keep them Hidden? but repin I never saw that option in zazzle. In the case of Repining are you talking about Pinterest?

[ElitElegant]

@CreativeLeahG 

[CreativeLeahG]

Yes, share 'anywhere' basically to try to get some views. How soon zrank will change after hiding items can be anything from 48hrs... for me it would change within that time, but things change a lot on Zazzle so I can't guarantee it. But if no change after 10 days you can always unhide them again.

[SunnyDays]

If they are not getting views, but zazzle hasn't hidden them yet (or flagged them for optimization), you can edit the title and tags and see if that does the trick. Once zazzle shows them as hidden, I remake them because they'll get no love from zazzle unless you actually change something in the images or templates, which you rarely want to do. But, zazzle gives you up to 2 years before hiding stuff. You can let things sit and simmer for quite a while. Zrank is not that important unless you are under 5. Some things need to simmer. I realize it's all a pain in the ass. I've sold products that have been sitting around for years, but, fortunately, had enough views to remain in the marketplace. With time things will sell, if you can keep them in the game. One more thing you might try, which I've not done. Be logged out of zazzle, go to your store, click on a few of your products. Should count as views.

[ElitElegant]

And what if all the items have Zero views? I want to clarify that I didn't start any kind of social media marketing whatsoever till now. I set up a Facebook page and an Instagram business account, a while back...but something is keeping me from starting this step, I don't know what is it that's holding me back. And I know that it's crucial to do it.

[Polenth]

Once you're at four, that's all you really need. Just focus on running your shop and don't chase zRank numbers.

When zRank was new, a lot of people tried to game it to get it higher. They deleted masses of products with low views and sales, just like they were told. The result was their sales went down. zRank sometimes went up, sometimes went down, and sometimes stayed the same. In the end, you've got to decide if you're running your store so you can tell people you have a high zRank or if you're running it to make sales.

[ElitElegant]

Dear @Polenth this is the first time to hear about deleting or making products hidden so zrank would go up! Can you tell me how should I run my store other than creating products as much as possible with good quality designs as much as possible and creating categories and collections? And if you're gonna mention social media platforms which one would you suggest first and the most?

[Polenth]

I've mainly sold by getting my keywords right so my products show in search. I also mainly create collections that are the same design on many products, outside of a few purpose specific ones like the honey jar labels. Every product goes in a collection as soon as it's made. Even before the recent changes, linking stuff in collections would result in multiple sales of the same design on several different products.

Once colourways/grouping came in, I added in doing the patterns on different colours. It's worth mixing up colours that are trendy for that pattern with colours that aren't. Sometimes you can find a niche in that odd colour choice. Also vectors are good for basic patterns, as it means it'll resize for anything.

My social media isn't like the social media of people who mainly do Zazzle. I talk about stuff and then occasionally mention my work (usually my writing), rather than being a hard sell marketing channel. Bluesky is the one I'm using for chatting instead of Twitter/X. Pinterest is the mainly art one, though I'm still only just getting going there.

[ElitElegant]

@Polenth  Waw, that's awesome! Aside from such a good strategy to follow and see things, you know how to project it smoothly explaining it. Don't get me wrong I still have questions though. And I'll try to keep this conversation going much further. I personally would like to include your work in my social media plan. And I'll take a look at Bluesky cuz I never heard of it..So first thing first I'll Follow your shop now, while you tell me more about how are you planing to use Pinterest, as its most probably the first platform I'm planning to fire up along with Twitter/X or maybe Bluesky now. You tell me if there is a way to start right away on Pinterest with a dedicated Board of your work, and what is the best way to Make pins. Is it just by posting links or doing specific Pinterest post?! My goal is to make it looks good and professional as much as i can by not just showing random flying links with bad quality products pics. I can use your success more to our exposure benefits. So if you wouldn't mind the idea, teach me your ways :). And if you have comments whatsoever on anything inside my shops that you don't like or see me going the wrong way, plz tell me.

[ElitElegant]

@Polenth Nice Honey jars collection btw, and your pattern selections are amazing. Most probably if I ever gonna start marketing on social media soon you'll be on my check list.

[Echo]

I believe that the number of sales, in comparison to the total number of products in your shop, has some impact on the ranking.

This is my experience:
I opened my first shop in late Dec. 2022, a few days after Christmas. After having about 20 designs on 25 products, I decided to set it to private and open another shop because I wanted a different name for the shop. Four months later, I was pleasantly surprised when this shop made its first sale, especially since I initially thought it wasn't possible when it was set to private. The same product made another sale a couple of weeks later. Almost two months have passed, a different design from the shop made a sale, resulting in a Zrank jump to 5. This shop was hardly receiving any views and I didn’t touch it at all once it was set to private. At the time it reached Zrank 5, the entire shop had accumulated less than 100 views across all products.

[ElitElegant]

@Echo Dear I took the liberty of sending you a private message to learn more about your story.

[SumWoman]

Oh hi,

I'm not quite sure about zRank. If it takes too much of your time, best to just go after sales.

All the best.